I’m not into driving very far everyday. I look at a commute as time at work that I don’t get paid for so the less, the better. Luckily my commute is about two minutes. Lol. I agree with johnpowell though, if I was making enough money, unreasonable stretches pretty damn far.

I used to commuter 1.5 hours each way to work but the job was so cool and interesting it was worth it. I took the train, though, so I could read, listen to tunes and sleep. If I was driving that distance I don’t think I would’ve appreciated it that much. Now I am just a drone in a retail job, so the 10 minute commute is about all I could stand.

I would say that if you need to use a car, then your commute is too long. I walk about 15 minutes and would never willingly go back to sitting in my car for any of the thin sliver of life I’m allowed to have outside work.

Hmm, Maverick, I think most people would be cutting down on their career options if they would only work somewhere within a 15 minute walk. :) If you live in or near the CBD, or in a small town, or have a home business, then I guess that would be reasonable – but otherwise a commute of some length of time is usually unavoidable.

True, but the question wasn’t “what excuses can I use to justify my commute?”, it was “what is an unreasonable commute?” I’m merely pointing out that ANY commute should be considered unreasonable, afterall that time is – for most people – the only part of their life which is truly theirs to live. Any amount of that time locked in a car staring at the bumper in front of them is probably too much. There’s also the environmental impact that, clearly at this point, shows that any commute is too much.
Would eliminating the commute require difficult choices to be made? Probably. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be done or that it doesn’t have benefits.

I work in 2 locations… one is 56 miles from my home which takes about 1 hour, 15 minutes; the other is 44 miles, which takes about an hour. I have commuted over 40 miles for most of the past 2 decades, so I’m used to it.

Right now, I love my job, and most of my ride is opposite the heaviest traffic flow, so I don’t mind too much… but the cost of fuel is killing me!

I used to commute about 45 miles with the heaviest traffic on a 5-lane superhighway, and that was incredibly stressful. Bumper-to-bumper at 70–80 miles per hour, because if you allowed half a car length between you and the car in front, someone would squeeze their way in! It was like driving NASCAR but a little slower, with a lot less safety gear and most drivers with a lot less skill!

I had a commute of an hour by car for about a year and a half. That was unreasonable, and as a result I will not commute by car for more than 15 minutes.

When I took the job I now have, I did so with the idea that I would be commuting by train. From leaving my front door to arriving at my desk now takes about 15 to 20 minutes depending on whether I catch the train right. That seems to me to be very reasonable; I could probably stand another 10–15 minutes of its length, because I get to read on the train.

@Maverick: one nice thing about commuting, of any type, is that it sets up a convenient boundary between “I am at work” and “I am at home.” Fifteen minutes to half an hour seems to be a good transition period, whether you’re walking, taking a train, or taking a car. Telecommuting tends to erase that boundary, which means you wind up working more and being more stressed.